The Null Device

2001/5/11

Planning to start a weblog but can't think of an appropriately
whimsical and offbeat name for it? The
Surrealist
Domain Name Generator can be of help. (Also usable for musical side-project
names and dot-com startups, where appropriate.) (ta, Bonni)

The Victorian government is
reopening four passenger railway lines closed in the early 1990s.
The Ararat, Bairnsdale, South Gippsland and Mildura passenger railway will
be reopened within 3 years, with services run by private operators.
Not surprisingly, three of the reopened lines are in the electorates of
independent MPs who hold the balance of power. (Still, decent passenger rail
coverage is a Good Thing, IMHO.)

Selling Christianity:
Catholic Supply of St. Louis, MO is now selling figurines
the
Sports Jesus. Lifelike figurines of white-robed Jesus playing
a wide range of popular American sports, including baseball and grid-iron.
Sometimes it's hard to tell the intentional kitsch from the unintentional.
Though, then again, in this age when most people express their identity by
consuming products, what better way to profess your Christianity than
by conspicuously consuming Christian merchandise?

The British government (the only Western democracy to require ISPs to have
back doors accessible to the security services) has passed legislation
requiring sysadmins
to be licensed. They say this wasn't their intention, but nonetheless it
is on the books.
It'll probably be a useful tool to ensure compliance;
sysadmins who are slow in handing over passwords or too eager to tell their
users that they're being watched could find themselves struck off the register.

Strange bedfellows:
It has emerged that, during World War 2, Scottish nationalists allied with
the IRA attempted to
establish an alliance with Nazi Germany,
with the aim of establishing a Nazi-allied Scottish Republic in the chaos of
the Blitz,
(via Lev)